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Phone Home Game
So called because the contestant involved got to play with a home viewer by phone, trying to share big cash prizes up to a total of $15,000; it's named for its reference to the phrase spoken by E.T. in said 1982 film. Gameplay During much of the 1980s, The Price is Right had a feature called "Play Along," where viewers were invited to send postcards to the show for a chance to receive the same prizes won by the in-studio contestants. The Phone Home Game took this concept to another level, having the person whose postcard was drawn participate by telephone in a cooperative effort with the in-studio contestant to split a cash prize of up to $15,000. The home player communicated by way of a telephone receiver as part of the game's prop. The in-studio contestant was shown a game board listing seven grocery items, each having an amount of money concealed beside it. The home player had been prepared with a list of the products and their actual prices. The home player gave the in-studio contestant three prices, one at a time. The in-studio contestant had to match the price to the correct product on the board. If they were correct, the two contestants earned the amount of money concealed next to that product on the board, which was not revealed until the end of the game. If the pick was wrong, no money was earned, and both the wrongly guessed product and the product which actually matched the price were taken out of play (since the price of the incorrect choice was revealed). Once all three prices were played, the money concealed beside any correctly guessed products was revealed, and the two players split the winnings evenly. The home player was only supposed to give a price to the in-studio contestant; if the home viewer read out the name of an item, the team would lose a turn. Prize Money The seven products concealed the following prize amounts: $200 and $1,000 were each on the board twice, and the top three prizes of $2,000; $3,000; and $10,000 each appeared once, for a top prize of $15,000 split between the contestants. History and behind the scenes At least two pairs of players split the full $15,000 prize; there were also contestant pairings who failed to win any money, including one in which the home player named a product instead of a price on all three turns, thus completely wasting the game. The home viewer was called before the taping of the show began and was put on hold until the game was played. The staff reasoned that keeping someone on hold for over 20 minutes would be impolite, so the game was always played in the first half of a show. Until the set revamp in 2007, there was still a jack for The Phone Home Game's telephone to be plugged into on the frame of one of the show's Big Doors. Retirement The Phone Home Game was retired because the staff thought the game took too long to play and didn't draw enough interest. Gallery PHGA1.jpg|The Phone Home Game Set PHGA2.jpg|Here's the list of product this contestant will be choosing from. PHGA3.jpg|Here's the price of one of the products. PHGA4.jpg|In this playing, the contestant and his home partner shared $3,000. PHGB1.jpg|So far, this team won $3,000 to split via the gum. With the Ointment they now get to add... PHGB2.jpg|$10,000! PHGB3.jpg|For a grand total of $13,000! PHGC1.jpg|Here's the full set complete with product counter. PHGC2.jpg|This team got all three right and here's what they got. For the peas, they picked up $3,000. PHGC3.jpg|For the Granola Snacks they got $2,000 more. PHGC4.jpg|And with the Weed Preventer they hit the $10,000! PHGC5.jpg|They won the full $15,000! $7,500 each! PHGC6.jpg|Here's Janice opening the $3,000 door. PHGC7.jpg|Now it’s official. YouTube Links Premiere Playing Another Playing Funny Playing Nasty Playing $15,000 Win! Category:Pricing Games Category:Retired Games